Firms Get 280 Migrant Workers to Go Back to Work Without Going for Regular COVID-19 Testing

Recently, MOM announced that an additional 20,000 workers are slated to be given the green light to go back to work.

Unfortunately, 280 migrant workers had their green light taken away, all because of their firms.

Firms Get 280 Migrant Workers to Go Back to Work Without Going for Regular COVID-19 Testing

On 22 Aug, it was reported that firms had tried to get 280 migrant workers to go back to work without undergoing the mandatory swab test.

Workers living in dormitories, as well as those working in the construction, marine and process sectors, are required to be tested every two weeks.

Staff who goes into work sites are also subjected to the mandatory tests as well.

The 280 migrant workers’ employers were reminded, multiple times, to get them to go for the test but to no avail.

So in the end, these workers had their approval to resume work taken back.

Firms Responsible For Routine Rostered Testing

The swab test was supposed to be arranged by the firms through an online booking system.

So far, about 82% of employers have logged onto the Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) system to schedule their workers for testing.

There are 102,000 workers who have not been scheduled for a test on the system yet.

It was warned that if a worker has not undergone the 14-day mandatory swab test by 5 Sep, he could be given the “Red AccessCode” and barred from going back to work.

Previously, MOM defined the situations in which a worker could get “Red AccessCode”.

Some because they are infected with the coronavirus, are contacts of a previously-confirmed case or were exposed to a Covid-19 case.

Others because their employers didn’t send them for the bi-weekly routine swab or their smartphones did not have TraceTogether installed.

How The System Works:

Here’s how the system works for the employers.

When they logged into the RRT system, they will be able to see 18 regional screening centres and purpose-built dorms for Covid-19 tests.

All they have to do is to book their workers for the first session, and the following ones will be automatically determined by the system.

New workers will be added to the system whenever their dormitories are cleared of Covid-19 and employers have to log in regularly to see if there are new workers they need to schedule.

In other words, all employers need to do is to start the ball rolling and everything else will be taken care of.

Which makes you wonder why these 280 workers’ firms didn’t get them to go for the first test.

A Brief Overview Of Safety Measures

There are four broad categories to MOM’s new strategy towards fighting Covid-19 now that the dormitories are fully cleared:

Prevention: Separate the workers according to the industries they work in and ensure safe distancing measures within dormitories.

Detection: Testing the workers every two weeks, monitoring report sick rate for Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), test the wastewater (literally sai kang warrior) and leverage on medical technology.

Containment: Once detected, immediately conduct contact tracing and shut workplaces down temporarily if required

Isolation: Put anyone who is required to back into isolation, which could end up with hundreds of workers back in isolation because of one case, but that’s a tradeoff they would make.